Resources Top 5: Aspiring gold miner Besra now up 450pc on $US300m funding deal

Maiden 2000m drilling program kicks off a Codrus Minerals’ Karloning REE-niobium project
Heavy Rare Earths continues to hit thick, high-grade clay REEs at 28Mt Cowalinya project
Besra now +450% since announcing $US300m funding/offtake deal with bullion trader Quantum late March

Here are the biggest small cap resources winners in early trade, Wednesday April 12.

CODRUS MINERALS (ASX:CDR)

A maiden 2000m drilling program has kicked off at CDR’s recently acquired Karloning REE-niobium project in the WA Wheatbelt.

Popularised by WA1 Resources’ (ASX:WA1) discovery on the WA/NT border, niobium is mainly used to make steel better, but also has growing uses in lithium-ion batteries, intelligent glass, solar panels, 5G tech, and nuclear energy.

Karloning includes a large 1.5km long and 200m wide pegmatite shown to host niobium alongside magnet REEs like dysprosium, neodymium, terbium, and praseodymium.

Early-stage rock/soil sampling returned very high grades up to 2.85% dysprosium and 6.41% niobium.

This drilling is aimed at testing the size of the pegmatite and “understanding the zonation and distribution of niobium and magnet rare earths dysprosium, neodymium, terbium and praseodymium hosted in xenotime” (a phosphate mineral rich in heavy rare earths), CDR says.

The $4.2m capped stock is down 15% year-to-date but up ~60% since announcing the acquisition November last year. It had $3m in the bank at the end of December.

HEAVY RARE EARTHS (ASX:HRE)

HRE continues to hit thick, high-grade clay REEs at the 28Mt Cowalinya project in WA, including 8m @ 3057ppm TREO from 27m.

159m mineralised intercepts have now been logged in the newly discovered 13sqkm Western Zone, which has the potential “to host a material increase in rare earths resources”, the company says.

Assays are pending from 36 holes. Once received, the process to update the resource will commence.

There are also assays outstanding for 41 exploration holes drilled ~15km from the Western Zone.

These will be excluded from the updated resource estimate, “but may present new rare earth target areas for subsequent definition drilling”.

The $8m capped stock is up 10% year-to-date. It had $3.5m in the bank at the end of December.

OZAURUM RESOURCES (ASX:OZM)

(Up on no news)

OZM’s Mulgabbie North gold project is 2km from Northern Star’s (ASX:NST) Carosue Dam tenements.

A substantial drilling program is set to culminate in a maiden resource estimate this quarter, something CEO and 34% shareholder Andrew Pumphrey said would be a “defining moment for the company”.

A scoping study — and more drilling using Pumphrey’s own diamond rig, supplied at cost — is also underway.

The $8m capped stock is down 11% year-to-date. It had $2.2m in the bank at the end of December.

READ: Which explorers are unlocking maiden gold and copper resources in 2023?

BESRA GOLD (ASX:BEZ)

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The goldie went parabolic late March after inking a $US300m non-binding offtake and funding deal with bullion dealer and major shareholder Quantum Metal Recovery Inc.

This cash – paid over 30 months against future production ounces — would cover development of its 3Moz ‘Bau’ project in Malaysia’s Sarawak region.

To settle the facility, BEZ would deliver up to 3Moz “according to an agreed percentage of production at an agreed floating gold reference price, but subject to a floor price (115% of AISC)”.

BEZ has now received initial payment of $US2m from Quantum Metal Recovery ahead of finalising the offtake funding facility. It is entitled to a further US$3m upon execution of the agreement, expected late April 2023.

Meanwhile, the company is updating a dusty old feasibility study completed back in 2013, with initial results due in the second half of 2023. Pilot production is also pencilled in for later this year.

The $76m capped stock is now up 450% since announcing the deal with Quantum.

AURORA ENERGY METALS (ASX:1AE)

(Up on no news)

1AE’s namesake project in the US has one of the country’s largest uranium deposits — 104.3Mt @ 214ppm U3O8 for 50.6Mlb U3O8 – but also contains lithium in the sediments overlying and surrounding the uranium resource.

It is also down the road from Tesla.

There is potential here to define and develop the two separate resources “providing commodity diversification and economies of scale”, 1AE says.

More drilling, assay results and met test work will culminate in a scoping/pre-feasibility study on the uranium deposit sometime this year.

A maiden lithium resource is targeted for release in the first half of 2023.

The $16m capped stock is down 35% on its May 2022 listing price of 20c per share. It had $2.1m in the bank at the end of December.